I owe so much to the United States of America. I am a very proud American and lived in the US more than I have lived in my country of birth, Egypt. The land of opportunity was just that for me, a dream come true! A relative of mine, someone I respect and love dearly, told me 20 years ago upon my arrival to the US, “Work Hard and seek high and you shall receive”. Thanks Fred! I followed your advice :) and learned from your ethics and positivity.

At the same time, my childhood in Egypt was tremendously fun and I would not want to replace it for anything. 90% of my friends in Egypt were Muslims, that was never a problem and I was never excluded or belittled because I was a Coptic Orthodox Christian while I was growing up.

I am truly confused in this era of super Internet times when my web browser has multi-pages opened at the same time, one page I have Facebook where I get messages from my Egyptian friends wishing me well, missing me and inviting me to celebrate Ramadan with them (as we always did back in Egypt) and we all can’t wait till we see each other again, and on the other page I read the news of a Church in Florida that it’s pastor is putting together a rally to burn the Quran to commemorate 9/11. What an idiot!

Are there bad Muslims out there, yes of course!, Are there bad Christians out there, you betya! It always amazes me when I see a Christian doing something very wrong how fast his/her congregation and the closest people to that person say “He/She is a not Christian, real Christians don’t do that”. And when a so called Muslim does something disgusting like an act of terrorism, it is the fault of the entire religion not the stupidity of the few that are embarrassing and dishonoring the rest of the Muslim population.

I try to raise my kids in a Christian way that is based on the true values that Jesus tried to teach us over 2000 years ago based on LOVE, tolerance and service. I never remember reading Jesus saying “Love Christians, tolerate Christians, Serve Christians” he intended ALL his people to love each other and serve each other. All here means ALLLLLLLLL It also amazes me that Christianity always calls on NOT TO JUDGE others but it seems that this part of the religion is left for interpretation. “I am not judging, but this guy looks like a terrorist”, “I prayed about it and I feel the Lord is telling me that these people are bad and I should stay away from them”, “I wish they can all leave and go back home and leave us alone”. Man :) I am so glad the Lord did not think about us the way some of us think about others and still thought it was worth it to come down and pay the ultimate price for our redemption.

When I was 17 or 18 years old, I remember a good friend of mine in Alexandria, Egypt (A Squash champion) taking me aside and tried to convert me to Islam by spending hours explaining and trying to make it clear to me. Others might have been offended by that, I was not, I was flattered that a friend of mine cared so much about me that he felt compeled to try and help me out, in his mind, to see me get to Heaven one day. It is a beautiful thing and a beautiful thought. This is not about who is right and who is is wrong, I believe heavily it is a about a calling from God to follow him and be his servent.

I understand that the Bible said that the only way to heaven is through Jessus Christ, that does not make us Elite but have the responsability to bring as many as we can with us. I am sure a Muslim reading the decalartion by the Florida church burning the Quran is saying: "Yeah, I should really consider Chritianity, they are so loving, tolerant and forgiving".

Few years ago I pulled both my kids out of a very presigious Christian school in the heart of the Silicon Valley, the school was beautiful, best campus in the USA, but I found it to be the worst attitude in the USA as well. They were teaching the kids that because they are Christians they are better than everyone else. This was clear to us after several instances and finally my wife and I decided to take them out of there. Now they go to a Blue Ribbon public school next to the house and they could not be happier socially and academically. It is a real life school, they have Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddist and Athiests whom are all welcome in our house for birthdays and parties. Wow, the same people my kids will live with in the USA for the rest of their lives, what a concept!

So many have opinions about the matter, some of you will agree with me and some will not, I respect that. The fact that I lived in Egypt for 19 years and the USA for 20 years should give me at least some credibility that I know what I am talking about :)

Love to ALL